Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
NEAPOLITAN NUANCES
Local historian, architect and author Andrea Maglio says to keep an eye out for these easily missed musts.
Tunnel Borbonico
In this subterranean tunnel (
Click here
)
you can still see dusty old vehicles, graffiti and toilets from when it was
used as a WWII air-raid shelter. It's a wonderful place to see Naples' stratified history.
Rival Obelisks
The impressive
guglie
(obelisks) that dot Spaccanapoli exemplify the collision of religion and politics in Naples.
When a deputation of noblemen devout to San Gennaro erected the
Guglia di San Gennaro
MAP
GOOGLE MAP
(Piazza Riario Sforza; C55 to Via Duomo), the competing Dominicans quickly commis-
Naples' true patron saint was San Domenico. The bickering beckoned the mediation of the pope, who declared
both saints patrons of the city.
Sacred Profanity
Naples is famous for blurring the boundary between the sacred and the profane. The Guglia di San Gennaro is
built around an ancient Roman obelisk found under the city, while the Cimitero delle Fontanelle (
Click here
) was
home to a very cultish brand of Catholicism. In the paintings of Jusepe de Ribera, such as his
St Jerome and the
Angel of Judgement
in the Palazzo Reale di Capodimonte the holy protagonists were often inspired by the city's
poor. The result was a very human representation of the divine, reflecting the familiarity and irreverence that
Neapolitans have always felt towards their much-loved saints.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Capodimonte & La Sanità
Palazzo Reale di Capodimonte
PALACE, MUSEUM, PARK
( 081 749 91 11;
www.coopculture.it
; Parco di Capodimonte; museum adult/reduced €7.50/3.75, park admission
free; museum 8.30am-7.30pm Thu-Tue, last entry 1hr before closing, park 7am-8pm daily; 2M or 178)
On
the northern edge of the city, this colossal palace took more than a century to build. It was
originally intended as a hunting lodge for Charles VII of Bourbon, but as construction got
under way in 1738, the plans kept on getting grander and grander. By its completion in
1759, Naples had a new palazzo. It's now home to the exceptional
Museo Nazionale di Capodi-
monte
.
